


About One-Headed Cats and Unburnt Grass

by aerike



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, just a tiny thing we talked about on the disc server, written pre v1.0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22562503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerike/pseuds/aerike
Summary: "[...] unlike Cerberus, its not normal for creatures in the surface to have three heads, [...]"
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 346





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> we talked about than sneaking zag into the surface and headcanons came in and im weak and also very gay so this is it

" _Please_ don't dash away," Thanatos sighed, adjusting the cloak around his shoulders, "specially on the grass, we don't know if it will react like it does in the Underworld".

"I _know,_ " Zagreus hissed back, again almost tripping on the end of his own slightly oversized cloak, "I plan on meeting the places around before I accidentally start a chain of mass destruction, thank you very much".

Thanatos sighed again, carefully guiding Zagreus around the trees.

If he thought about how they came to be in this situation, of Thanatos sneaking Zagreus around the surface, he would feel quite a bit of shame on how easily Zagreus had convinced him on all of this. It _had_ been weirdly simple. Lord Hades had some problems to solve between the citizens in the Underworld, which would leave him away from the house for at least a few days (something that hadn't happened in quite a few years, by what Thanatos recalled), and Zagreus had taken the first opportunity to do something destructive, incredibly risky, with highly doubtful results, and asked Thanatos to take him with on his next trip to the surface.

Blessed be Mother Nyx for not going mad taking care of Zagreus during his younger years.

Thanatos had found a pair of cloaks for them to use, since they could hardly hide their unnatural eyes in the light of day, and to also cover the fact that he was almost always hovering and Zagreus' feet were always burning (not so much now, thank Hermes for small boons).

Zagreus' first reaction to leaving the Underworld and touching the surface was to hiss and look at the thick snow covering most of the ground.

"Is this what snow _really_ feels like? It didn't feel like this before, it's...prickly".

Thanatos stared at the ground near the Prince, silently relieved he could barely see any scorch marks melting the thick snow. He knew Zagreus could barely feel anything under his burning feet, unless whatever it was was on some extreme temperature, such as the lava pools in Asphodel.

And, apparently, snow on the surface.

Thanatos kept his own feet away from the ground, hovering a few centimeters above the snow. He did feel kind of guilty, perhaps he could have arranged a pair of boots or any other kind of cover for Zagreus, but he also felt like he deserved some kind of petty revenge on the younger god, for convincing him so easily on being part of such crazy plans.

"You'll be fine" he shook his head, turning around to try and find the direction for the closest village, one he remembered quite often had vendors with sweet fruit and beautiful jewelry to sell during the day, and smoky meat and relaxing music at night. He hadn't collected many souls in that place recently, but he had found quite a few gifts to bring to Zagreus back in the Underworld in their seemingly endless stalls full of trinkets.

And now here they were, walking around the woods, in the middle of the night, sneaking out of home as if they were a couple of rebellions on some ancient silly story.

He heard Zagreus' sizzling steps come to a halt. Thanatos turned around, about to ask what was wrong, when Zagreus pointed to one of the higher branches on a large tree, where a nest of a small pair of birds was resting.

"What are those?" he turned his curious, mismatched eyes to Thanatos, "Are they some kind of bat? Butterflies?"

Thanatos huffed, amused, feeling a weird kind of warmth in his chest.

He often wondered how come Zagreus had the weird ability of bringing warmth to his cold, dead heart. Ever since he was a young god, refusing to learn the ways of the House of Hades, a smile rarely touching his face and bitter words often leaving his lips.

Once, when he was about to leave the surface and make his way to the Underworld, and its caged Prince, he had found a small wrap near a dead tree, surrounded by withered flowers and poorly made jewelry, probably some kind of measly offering to Death Incarnate that he hadn't cared to really inspect until then. Inside, he found a tiny slice of cake, dark chocolate covered in fine apple slices. He brought it to the Underworld, as an offering to the Prince, who then was but a shadow of a god.

As soon as he got the small treat, though, Thanatos had the pleasure of seeing his forlorn face open into a bright smile and his mismatched eyes filled with happiness. Such a rare vision then, was enough to warm Thanatos' chest for days, bringing him satisfaction but also confusion on the boiling feelings on the back of his mind.

(Unbeknownst to him, he had made the first offering ever to the god Zagreus would one day grow into).

He sometimes feared what Zagreus' smile was capable of doing to him.

"No," he shook his head, resting his hand on Zag's shoulder to gently guide him forward, "those are birds; they are kind of like bats I believe? But with feather instead of fur...And double the noise."

Zagreus made a small sound of wonder, looking over his shoulder back at the small nest on the tree branch.

-

They found the village at what seemed to be the crack of dawn. The vendors were already putting their displays up, with wooden boxes full of shiny red apples, mangoes, papaya, bananas, pomegranates, and many other kinds of fruit. One of the vendors seemed to be putting up beautiful silks on their display, the silks' exotic hue taking Thanatos' eyes for a few seconds, before he was taken back to Zagreus' small gasp, eyeing something on one of the vendors' stand.

Thanatos got closer, silently resisting the urge to scold Zagreus on walking away from him on a place that was completely unknown to the Prince, and looked at the objects spread around on the table. Animals made of wood, small carvings of horses, sheep, chicken and even fish. Zagreus stared at the sheep with confusion.

"What is this?" the young god asked the vendor, who gave the Prince a yellow smile, trying to hide their own confusion at the weird question.

"It's a sheep, sir" the vendor poked the sheep slightly, bringing it closer to Zagreus, "carved it myself, just last night".

Thanatos bit his lip slightly, trying to hide his silly smile. Of course Zagreus had never seen sheeps. He wasn't around when Lady Persephone still resided in the Underworld, when one could sometimes see chicken walking around the great hall, birds could be seen chirping loudly in the trees in the courtyard.

No, the Prince only came around when times were getting darker and days later Lady Persephone was gone.

"Than," Zagreus whispered, giving the fish carving a weird look, "is that a _fish_?".

Thanatos blinked and looked around for the vendor, finding them talking to other people, and tried to hide his smile again. Zagreus was probably still curious about sheeps.

"Yes, you can find them in almost any river."

"But," Zagreus tilted his head to the side, seemingly tempted to poke the small carving, "it's so _weird"._

Thanatos shook his head, sighing. Of course Zagreus couldn't see the similarities between, say, a Gupp and a Tuna. Because their only similarity was living in bodies of water.

He guided the Prince away from the stall, his eyes skirming over whatever the other vendors were offering. Pots of varied sizes, jewelry made with purple and orange stones, baskets full of delicious smelling bread.

In a matter of seconds, the Prince had strayed away from Death again and was now on the other side of street, eyeing the plethora of colorfully painted canvas, with the noisy artist on the side, rambling about the colors of life and why red was such an important color. Thanatos groaned and approached the stall, but Zagreus spoke first.

"Father wouldn't allow these in the house," he mumbled, looking somewhat bitterly at a painting of a shore.

Thanatos knew well the weird hatred Lord Hades had for painting. He couldn't remember if Lady Persephone had any kind of love for them, but he could remember an incident when Zagreus was young.

He could remember the first few gifts he had brought Zagreus when they were young. A few books and scrolls, some of them with paintings of forests and waterfalls. Nyx had given Zagreus his own art material, paints and brushes and space for the small Prince to color at will. His first try at painting had been of a beach, inspired by one of the books. Thanatos could remember the clumsy strokes of blue and yellow, the color staining both the Prince's cheeks and the canvas in his hands.

Later, when he tried to hang the painting on the lounge, near the kitchen, Lord Hades had taken only a brief look at the painting, but it was enough to bring down on Zagreus almost hours of scolding, yelling and berating. Thanatos could still hear how strongly the Prince had closed the door to his chambers.

It was a bitter memory. It was the first time Thanatos had questioned to himself if Lord Hades really knew what he was doing as a father.

Lost in his thoughts and the sounds around him, Death didn't noticed the young Prince straying away again, walking towards an alley with only a few stray sun rays sneaking in. A small, orange ball of fur had caught the Prince's attention. Said small ball of fur was laying down on some pieces of fabric, basking on the warmth entering the otherwise dark space.

"What are you?" The Prince mused to himself, bending down slightly to take a closer look.

The small ball of fur opened its eyes, almost the same green as Zagreus' own, stared at him for a few seconds before apparently deciding he wasn't a threat, and yawned, showing off its small, sharp teeth.

Zagreus slowly put his hand closer, letting the small creature sniff his hand for a few seconds. After it was done, the Prince carefully put his hand on its head, slowly petting it. The creature let out a small sound, making Zagreus freeze for a second.

He could recognize that sound.

The same sound Flame Wheels made whenever he was nearby and they were just ready to set him aflame, ready to send him back, ready to make him almost scream in rage for _having to go back yet again when he was so close and his legs were hurting and he couldn't breath or hear anything amidst the explosions--_

The young god took a deep breath, slowly took a look around the alley, confirmed somewhat shakily that there were _no_ explosions or furious chariots following him around, and looked back at the small creature, only then noticing a weird detail. The creature only had one head.

Now slightly worried, the Prince tilted his head to the side, trying to find the other two heads. Maybe this creature was injured? Maybe the other heads had gotten lost? Maybe they would grow back, just like Lernie?

"There you are!" the Prince jolted at Thanatos' voice, noticing the slightly distraught look on Death's face, "Stop running away like that! I told you I'd guide you around".

Zagreus winced, taking a few steps away from the small ball of fur. The guilt started twisting on his chest.

"Sorry Than, really! I just..." he pointed vaguely at the small ball of fur, "I saw this thing, I think it's injured?"

"Thing?" Thanatos approached carefully, trying to not startle the cat. His golden eyes inspected the small animal, searching for the so called injuries.

"Yeah, look!" Zagreus pointed to the cat's neck, "it only has one head! The other two must have been taken off somehow".

Thanatos stared at the red and green eyes, trying to find out if the younger god was joking, After a few moments of silence, Thanatos took a deep breath, feeling laughter bubble in his chest. Of _course_ Zagreus would find weird that an animal, that's apparently not a monster or somewhat humanoid like the Bull of Minos, didn't have three heads. Cerberus was probably his only reference for any docile animal that didn't immediately try to attack him.

He was feeling that weird warmth in his chest again, it was almost pulling his cheeks back in a cheerful smile.

"That," he pulled the hood of Zagreus' cloak down until it covered the Prince's eyes, making him groan in annoyance and push it back, "is a cat and, unlike Cerberus, its not normal for creatures in the surface to have three heads, in fact, most of them only have one".

Zagreus stared at him with a completely flabbergasted look, then looked back at the cat, which was now stretching and yawning, with an extremely curious and somewhat horrified look.

Thanatos sighed, sitting down on one of the boxes reclining on the wall. After a few moments, Zagreus went back to petting the cat's head. Even from where he was sitting down, he could hear the cat's extremely pleased purr. He could understand the feeling. Zagreus was the single most warm thing around the House of Hades.

"Than," Zagreus whispered, looking at Thanatos with big eyes, "I think I broke it."

Thanatos couldn't hold it back this time. The laughter exploded out of his chest and out of his lips, almost making him fall down.


	2. Of Flowers and Puddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had harvested souls in this place and yet the flowers bloomed around as cheerfully as ever.

Thanatos had found the valley in a somewhat morbid occasion.

A couple, apparently not allowed to stay together by their family, had gotten together in that valley, amidst the colorful flowers and blue sky, ready to stay bound forever. Thanatos had found them each holding an apple with something black coming from its midst. They didn't startle when his green-lighted wings opened just behind them. They didn't beg for mercy when he raised his sword above their throats. They didn't yell for salvation when his golden eyes stared at them with nothing but coldness.

He had harvested souls in this place and yet the flowers bloomed around as cheerfully as ever.

It was raining today. Between the flowers were countless puddles, some filled with mud. Zagreus, standing still by his side, didn't seem to mind such things.

"That's..." Zagreus lowered the hood of his cloak, reaching his hand out and letting some few drops of water touch his fingertips, "that's _rain_?"

Thanatos stared at the laurel on Zagreus' head. He hadn't seem such a thing happen before, but now the small, wispy leaves that usually flowed off it were turning into different colors as soon as they left the prince's head. Some turning to a light pink, deep purple, orange...

Just like the flowers around them.

Taking the hood completely off, Zagreus took a few steps forward, bending down to watch the rain dripple down the petals of a white flower speckled with pink, his fingers carefully approaching it, hesitating to touch at the last second. The young god took a shaky breath, looking up at the gray sky with wonder in his mismatched eyes, the black sclera of the red one reflecting the clouds above.

Unconsciously, Thanatos could feel some weird energy pulsing in the air. As if the universe had found something new, something it was curious about, something it longed to keep and meet.

And Zagreus seemed to feel the same about the place they were in.

Thanatos could see it. The prince didn't want to come back to the Underworld, of course he didn't. He had promised he'd go back with Thanatos when the time came. But then again, Zagreus wasn't known for going down without a fight.

He looked at the younger god again. Zagreus was now curious about the puddles around. Hesitantly, the prince stepped in one of them, making the water inside sizzle angrily with his burning feet. The prince only giggled at that, jumping inside the puddle and making the water splash around his legs. Death snorted at such a vision. He had seem plenty of mortal children do such a thing on rainy days. He had also harvested their souls after sickness consumed them and they fell to it in their sleep.

"These things," Zagreus turned to him, slightly hopping inside the puddle, "these are flowers, right?"

"Yes"

"Which flower is this one?" he pointed at a red flower with tones of orange near its center.

"I have no idea," Thanatos sighed, hovering closer, "My job doesn't exactly allow me to research what flowers are there".

If this was before, when Lady Persephone was around, she probably would be able to tell with a brief look what that flower was, where it came from, what was the perfect weather condition for it. They had flowers in the House, for sure, but they were the same ones mortals used to honor their dead ones. All of them had the same smell of sadness, of feelings untold, of a life cut too short, too soon.

He was sure Zagreus only kept them near his chambers because Nyx seemed to like them, and Thanatos couldn't help but appreciate the small symbol of affection for his mother.

Zagreus only hmmed at his answer, turning around to find another puddle to jump in. The next one was filled with mud, but the prince didn't seem to mind, proceeding to jump to the next one.

He probably would stay at it the whole day if Thanatos let him.

"Zag" he stared at the sky, feeling the rain around them get stronger, "I think we should go".

The prince seemed to ignore him, staring at something down the hill.

"Zag?" he hovered to the prince's side, trying to find what was so interesting.

He couldn't see anything special down the hill. Trees everywhere, fog covering the ones closer to the top of the valley. In the distance, he could see speckles of light, probably a small village hidden in the middle of the forest.

"Than," Zag whispered, his voice sounding weirdly small, "I don't want to go back".

Thanatos blinked, surprised. He took another look down below, trying to find out _what_ brought this on. Zagreus had agreed since the beginning on their return, or else risk the wrath of his father upon the whole of Tartarus.

_Then again, he doesn't go down without a fight_. He took a deep breath.

"I know," he put his arm around the younger god's shoulder, letting his head rest against Zagreus', watching the speckles of color leave the prince's laurel, "I know".

By the time they went back to the village, the sky was already dark, bringing out the hundreds of thousands of stars. Everytime he looked down, he could see the sky reflected on the prince's eyes, the tiny spots of light shining against his green eye, making Thanatos think of the few times he saw the sea under the night's spell. A sunken ship full of souls to be harvested, a child lost in Poseidon's domain, a mortal who commited the horrible mistake of not learning how to swim. All of them gone at the tip of his sword and he could now remember all of it while looking at the prince's mismatched eyes.

They had found the abandoned house in the skirts of town what seemed hours after they arrived. Inside, nothing but an old bed with a ragged blanket. After making sure Zagreus was well (and, in the back of his mind, guaranteeing the prince would not run away), Thanatos had summoned his scythe, took his cloak off and covered his head with his own hood.

"I'll be back soon" he mumbled, still not taking his eyes off the small figure of the prince laying down on the bed, his head hidden under his oversized cloak's hood, "I'll try to bring some food. Maybe we could find some waterfalls tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Zagreus answered, his voice muffled, "Sounds good".

Taking a last look at the prince, Thanatos whispered a quick "try to get some sleep" and let the green light wings take him away.

He came back to the abandoned house by evening. There was a man pleading for mercy on an alley, stinking of wine and dirt. A woman holding her child's limp body, barely recognizing his presence in the midst of her tears, an old couple sitting down in front of their house, their hands together and smiling peacefully, as if Death was invited for tea and they were awaiting for his arrival.

A normal day, overall.

He opened the door silently, unconsciously expecting the house to be empty. Expecting Zagreus to be nowhere nearby, with only slight marks on the floor indicating where he'd dissapeared to.

Instead, the prince was snoring softly on the old bed. Somehow, the cats that they could normally see on the streets were laying down around the young god, one of them contently purring as it rubbed its face on the prince's dark hair. One was rolled into a ball snugly on the prince's stomach, another one pushing its head under Zagreus' chin.

Thanatos wished he had an artist's skill to portray the image in front of him into a canvas, hang it above his bed in the Underworld, a silent reminder that Zagreus was _warmth_ and, unlike the light on the surface that insisted on making him _ill_ , on hurting him, Zagreus was a warmth he could chase for eternity, could happily rest his head on it, could happily keep and protect it--

"Than" Zagreus grumbled suddenly, without opening his eyes, "Why is it so warm? What is--"

"I told you not to give them food"

The prince's eyes snapped open, looking around for the sources of the intense purring in his ears.

" _Did I break all of them?!_ "

**Author's Note:**

> this is really just for amusement, not trying to fill canon stuff or anything  
> also because i cant wait until the next update for more interactions between them


End file.
